1) At my request, Nina Beety has kindly prepared a press release re her smeter fire report and sent it to several major Canadian media contacts, e.g. Vancouver Sun, CBC, Montreal Gazette. It is below in Letters. I hope you will consider forwarding this to the media in your area. This report confirms everything that I documented over several years and reported on in Sept. 2017.
These meters have design flaws which are causing and exacerbating fires. There has been no independent electrical engineer in BC Hydro or FortisBC who has certified ITRON smeters to be safe. And, according to other professional electrical engineers, no engineer would certify them to be safe because they aren’t. BC Hydro said it has taken ITRON’s word that the meters are safe and apparently that’s OK with the authorities.
2) FortisBC wants to put in gas smeters, starting in 2022. Just what we need, more EMR, or paying to have the transmitter turned off.
(click on photo to enlarge)
FortisBC applying to install 1M wireless gas meters across B.C.
“B.C.’s natural gas meters could get a little bit smarter if FortisBC has its way.
The company that supplies natural gas to most British Columbians is applying to the B.C. Utilities Commission (BCUC) to replace the old-style gas meters in more than a million homes and businesses with new, wireless “advanced gas meters.””
https://globalnews.ca/news/5990220/fortisbc-application-1m-wireless-gas-meters/
3) If you missed some of the presentation at the 5G Summit, you can watch them for free for the next few days.
4) In the US, a group is gathering funds for a major lawsuit against the FCC and hope to hire some excellent lawyers, including the firm that represented Erin Brockovich and won against PG&E. There aren’t a whole lot of details provided and I will see if I can get some, which I will share. It would be wonderful to have some strong lawyers fight 5G and the current laws/regulations that favor the telecoms over our health. A win in the US would be a win for us. It seems that it is only when companies are sued that things change.
“Due to the imminent threat 5G poses not just to us and all life on earth, but also to our democracy (5G will enable IoT, self driving cars, home surveillance in real time, etc., etc.), we are suing the FCC and also naming the ADA and Telecom Act which prohibits environmental effects from blocking antennas and towers but has been interpreted by governments and courts to also include health, meaning you cannot use health effects as reason to block a cell antenna or tower. This is despite the US National Toxicology Programs findings of clear evidence of statistically significant carcinogenic effects from wireless radiation emitting devices and infrastructure. The FCC and Telecom Act are basically mandating the exposure to a known carcinogen, neurotoxin and genotoxin. We believe this to me immoral let alone illegal. And so we are finally taking legal action against the FCC and Telecom Act. We also may be adding other violations to this suit.
We have who we believe to be the #1 attorney in the US for blocking cell towers and antennas in the US (we have used him twice successfully to block towers in our area). But the really exciting news is that since this attorney is in NY and we are in California, we had to partner with a CA law firm, so we have partnered with none other than the law firm from the film Erin Brokovich! This is the firm that sued PG&E for poisoning families, lying to them about it and giving them cancer and they beat PG&E”
Letters:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Nina Beety
NEW REPORT ON SMART METER FIRE AND ELECTRICAL HAZARDS
Researcher and writer Nina Beety has released a 50-page overview of the fire and electrical hazards of Smart Meters and other digital utility meters used in the U.S. and Canada. It is available on her website
Digital meters differ significantly from traditional analog electromechanical meters and have basic design flaws. They do not have a direct connection to ground, a circuit breaker, or appropriate surge protection. They contain a varistor – an electronic component. Over time, electrical surges and overvoltage damage and eventually destroy a varistor. A varistor will also explode when the voltage exceeds its tolerance. This makes meters and buildings vulnerable to surges, power outages, overcurrent on the lines, and lightning strikes, leading to burned wiring, burned outlets, damaged appliances and other electronics, arcing, meters exploding off buildings or catching fire, and building fires. The damage is rapid and happens in seconds. These and other meter problems have resulted in fires that have caused injuries and deaths of people and pets, as well as extensive property damage. They have likely worsened other fires.
Traditional analog electromechanical meters do not have these vulnerabilities.
TESCO, an industry meter testing and services firm, identifies “catastrophic failure” as a new and unique failure mode for these digital meters.
Utility companies deny these problems and remove Smart/digital meters from fire scenes, though fire scenes are supposed to be preserved to allow proper investigation. Fire fighters are not trained to recognize how digital meters malfunction, due to surges and overvoltage, and cause electrical damage and fires. Data collection on incidents is hampered by inadequate fire codes that can’t identify meters as primary or auxiliary causes and by lack of investigative funding. UL has certified Smart Meter models that have caused fires, raising questions about the nature, conditions, and adequacy of testing.
Smart Meters are now being installed on utility poles for new “small cell” towers next to homes and other buildings. This creates an additional fire risk, including to wooden poles and nearby trees and vegetation, an injury risk, and a risk to the power supply.
When there is a power outage, re-energizing power lines also causes surges that will endanger these meters.
Beety urges independent public investigations and immediate action on these meters. She is the author of “Analysis: Smart Meter and Smart Grid Problems – Legislative Proposal”[1].
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[1] http://smartmeterharm.org/2012/12/14/report-smart-meter-problems-dec-2012/
Sharon Noble, Director, Coalition to Stop Smart Meters
“A government has no conscience. Sometimes it has a policy, but nothing more.” Albert Camus